The subject matter disclosed herein relates to turbine components and, more specifically, to modifying turbine components with internally cooled supplemental elements.
In gas turbine engines, such as aircraft engines or heavy duty gas turbines for example, air is drawn into the front of the engine, compressed by a shaft-mounted rotary-type compressor, and mixed with fuel. The mixture is burned, and the hot exhaust gases are passed through a turbine mounted on a shaft. The flow of gas turns the turbine, which turns the shaft and drives the compressor and fan. For aircraft, the hot exhaust gases may further flow from the back of the engine, driving it and the aircraft forward.
During operation of gas turbine engines, the temperatures of combustion gases may exceed 3,000° F., considerably higher than the melting temperatures of the metal parts of the engine which are in contact with these gases. Operation of these engines at gas temperatures that are above the metal part melting temperatures may depend in part on supplying a cooling air to the outer surfaces of the metal parts through various methods. The metal parts of these engines that are particularly subject to high temperatures, and thus require particular attention with respect to cooling, are the metal parts forming combustors and parts located aft of the combustor, in the so-called “hot gas path”. For example, the operating temperatures can be partially regulated by using passageways such as cooling holes incorporated into some engine components such as buckets.
Superalloys, such as precipitation-hardenable Ni-based superalloys, or Co-based superalloys, can be used for turbine components to help withstand higher operating temperatures. However, not all turbine components are originally designed with cooling holes and therefore additional cooling features may be utilized as operating temperatures continue to increase.
Accordingly, alternative modified turbine components with internally cooled supplemental elements and methods for modifying turbine components with internally cooled supplemental elements would be welcome in the art.